Chain Migration: How I Found My Welsh Ancestors

Chain Migration: How I Found My Welsh Ancestors

In my previous post, I discovered that there was more to my Welsh ancestors' immigration than I thought. Follow along as I explore the chain migration of Daniel and his family.

Chain Migration: Establishing the links

In my last post, I started with the theory that my Welsh ancestor, Daniel Davies, came to America first, then sent for his wife and children. What I discovered was that it wasn’t just his wife and children who followed him; so did his parents and at least one sibling. Based on that, I suspected this is a case of chain migration, which meant I needed to search for more passenger lists.

Chain migration is when a series of people from the same place follow each other to a new destination. I already have Daniel’s wife, children, and brother Morgan, who came over from Abertillery, Wales, in December of 1887. Additionally, finding a passenger list for his parents was easy. They arrived in Philadelphia on the 30th of September, 1888, along with three of their daughters, Elizabeth, Anny, and Alice. It lists Cincinnati as their destination. They knew exactly where they were heading.

So I now have two groups that traveled together, which account for Daniel’s parents, four of his siblings, his wife and children. That leaves four other siblings — and Daniel himself — still unaccounted for. Unfortunately, that’s where my search for passenger records ran aground.

Checking the Census

My next step was to check the census records for citizenship information. The 1930 US census shows my third great-uncle, David Humphrey, as having immigrated in 1885. The 1920 census shows 1888 as the year and indicates that he was naturalized in 1894.

He would have been between the ages of 12 and 15 when he came to the US. Did he come over with Daniel?

1920 Census courtesy of Ancestry.com

Searching for both names (Daniel and David) based on the 1885 date didn’t turn up anything promising, and given that Daniel was most likely still in Wales at least through most of 1886, the 1888 date is far more likely for David. Meanwhile, their other brother, William, also has a 1920 census record that shows the date of 1888 for arrival. It’s possible that he and David came over together. It bears investigating.

Naturalization Records

Since the census records indicated they were naturalized, the next place I looked was naturalization records. In the case of my Davies ancestors, these are accessible through the University of Cincinnati Archives and Rare Books Library. And there I found some promising leads in the Index:

The key takeaway from this is that the declaration date provides a link between John and Daniel. They seem to have declared on November 2, 1889, which makes it likely this is my Welsh ancestor, Daniel Davies. It’s not the passenger list and I’ll need to look at the original naturalization records, but it is a solid lead.

He arrived on August 12, 1887, a few months before his wife and children, and a year before his parents.

Don’t forget the passport

But what about the other siblings? I didn’t find any passenger lists or naturalization record for William, but I know he came over. What I did find, however, was his passport application, which is a goldmine of information (including a photo!)

In his passport application, William Davies declares that he came over on the Steamer Roman from “Liverpool, England on or about June 11th, 1888.”

The passport application also contains his final papers of citizenship, which contains the dates in which he first applied (14th of April, 1892) and granted his final papers (31st of May, 1902).

Back to where we started: Abertillery

So now we have the dates of when my great-great grandfather, his parents and all but two of his siblings arrived. According to their mother’s obituary, the two oldest girls, Rachel and Margret Ann, stayed behind in Wales, so they, at least, were not part of the chain migration.

The next step is tracing my Welsh ancestry back across the pond, so I’m hoping some of their descendants will do a DNA test soon, which could lead to new cousin connections. And, of course, there are my Welsh ancestors in the Powell and Samuel lines to trace, too. Were any of them part of the chain migration?

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